Mental health

Yes and no.A lot of good work is done “on the hoof”, not sitting in a room. I regard every contact I have with clients as Social work. There is always something valuable in client contact. Don’t shuffle them off to someone less well trained or qualified. notes and data entry, yes. But client contact no. It’s rather dismissive- “this (quite important for you) event does not rate my superior training and skills).
But having non-trained “Social Workers” supervising trained people- not appropriate, usually. I know people who have had to leave jobs because they and the supervisor are basically from different planets.

I was bullied in 2012 when I returned from a Social Work secondment in another government dept to being managed by a woman who had previously been in a Secretarial role and who, unbeknown to me, had also bullied a close colleague in another location. I had an extremely responsible regional position as a Family Violence Response Coordinator. My background included establishing with my friend a Women’s Refuge at a time when there were only 9 Refuges in Aotearoa. I was part of the group of women in my community who started Rape Crisis, a Whanau Support organisation, worked as a Court Victim Advisor and many other social and community work roles – and yet still I was slow to recognise what was happeing to me. It was the amazing stauchness of another colleague working in prevention of family violence who asked me questions and challenged me gently to discuss and record what was occuring. I took this matter to the PSA who at the time had mounted a Workplace Bullying campaign. The MSD Regional Commissioner suggested as a way forward that my complaint be examined by another Regional Commissioner. I was slow – and so was the PSA organiser – as I agreed to it. Needless to say, after meeting with the other Regional Commissioner my complaint was not upheld. It was then I found out about what had happened previously with my former colleague and how the mediation process she entered into ensured that the perpetrator continued with her bullying unabated but shifted the focus to me. We have such a long way to go – starting with the failed and false notion that “anybody can manage anything”. although even if my Manager had been a social worker we still have a long way to go in social work to discuss these issues and ensure bullying never happens. I’m choosing to remain anonymous at this stage in relation to my experience but would be open to taking part in any research that may be undertaken by anyone. Mauri ora

As a Social Work student in my 30s I was badly bullied at the Princess Margaret Hospital by the Senior Social Worker (now long gone). Long story- I didn’t know I was Aspergerian then,but I have always had sensory issues (Noise in particular) and this caused a problem when one of the Rest Home SWs took a couple of us home for lunch… her son was at home and playing music VERY loudly. In the end I had to excuse myself and apparently she was offended enough to complain to the Senior SW who lambasted me and then said I would NEVER get a job there while she was SSW. I didn’t know what I could do about that so did nothing. Funnily enough, many years later, I found myself back there as a locum SW and that woman was not there but there were two others who were bullies, both to staff and patients. Again, not sure who I could complain to…. the patient who was abused was my own mother, who had dementia. I was so shocked at what happened I couldn’t think it through until later. Fortunately she just giggled at him!

Years further on, I have been severely bullied by a person who works at CCS Disability Action in Christchurch. He refuses to work collegially, and abused me uphill and downdale quite recently…. I agree that many Managers are not worth their salt and the trouble with that is that they employ people who are no better. If one does “slip through” the Manager feels threatened by superior skills and bullies until that person resigns. This bullying culture is so widespread but if you can’t get the bullies at the top to change their spots, I don’t see much hope for the rest of us!

I was bullied by a manager to the extent that my health was beginning to suffer. Comments such as “You are too old anyway” You deserved it” after I laid a formal written complaint. This all happened in the latter half of 2012. I was “lucky” I turned 65 and was able to resign with long service and retirement leave. Others were not able to do this. In 2013 the manager was the subject of an formal internal review in to which I made written submissions. She was moved to another office. In 2019 she is again subject to a ten page complaint I have been retired six years and do not regret leaving although I had not intended to do so before this woman came along.

I know it was to cover her own inadequacies but it was a difficult time .

I have chosen to remain anonymous because I retain my registration and am involved to some extent in SW

Hi – thanks you for your blog Anne and the challenge to look more closely at Artificial Intelligence. As a Social Worker in the older age group, technology has been something that it has been necessary to accept and adapt to albeit at a lower level. For people who are restricted in accessing the community through ill-health or disability, it has opened up a whole new world. I agree with Estelle though that it necessary for people to interact with people. I can see that while used thoughtfully, technology can add huge benefit it can also con vulnerable people into believing in a world that is removed from reality, in many cases exacerbating mental health illness and increasing suicides . My major concern is ethical, where is the privacy and safety in the use of todays AI? We live in a changing world, advances in technology must be used to enhance not destroy the world we live in and the people who inhabit it.

Unfortunately my experience with technology has been negative due to workplace more than anything. Mobile phones used to bully and interrupt work (told off if not on), I Pads used to have workers working more but sold on working more efficiently. Before these social workers had REAL interaction with people and i have been very distressed watching young social workers with their head in their i pad and typing instead of interacting with clients and listening to them properly especially when clients distressed.. Firms sold this to our work for safety reasons, this was not correct, safety can be built into the work and by workers in a good way without it. For me this covers the first three questions and as an example i worked all over London, Australia and NZ without these things. I was not attracted to it and being forced to use it does not engender good feelings about it.

As to artificial intelligence, as stated i think that social workers instead of being pumped out of university with on no on the job training and put into very responsible roles alone, there should be much more coaching and learning on the job after which we could think about this. I can see a role for an artificial intelligence doll used as a client for practice for social workers. The basics not right enough for my tastes yet to move onto more complicated aspects. .

What I would like to see given an opportunity is the use of recording technology while out in the field.

As a statutory Social Worker I feel this type of technology would enhance my mahi as paper work takes up most of my time where I would rather be out in the field doing hands on mahi. We do have high & complex cases that I feel requires more interaction to better support our whanau through their situations rather then worrying about keeping up with notes back at the office. This leaves whanau hanging for too long as we are trying to juggle paperwork & field work as well as all the other cases on our load.

I do feel I am technology savvy & do depend on it when I am out in the field such as placing phone calls, searching for services, searching for understandings & many more. In addition, when we prepare tamariki for specialists interviews, instead of talking to them we have the option of showing them a vidoe explaining the interview process which for kinisthetic specific tamariki works great. Also, tamariki these days are drawn to technology such as ipads or tablets which supports my mahi in terms of building a relationship with te tamait & making sure he/she understands.

Sure Caz, you can download the pdfs of each article and print them off.

See here for a hint

Great work team! This will help share the good news about social work in Aotearoa.

Here’s my view on this. ANZASW is supposed to be our professional body with Board members who uphold the values and practice of SW. I do not see much of this being demonstrated with the lack of transparency and accountability with regards to breaches in confidentiality of board matters, the management of this event, the loss of board members and how we are to move forward.

Social work has a value of social justice which is about challenging systems and processes not having personalized ‘bitchfests’ within our own profession. Are we not meant to be modeling respectful difference. Publically trashing our peers, in my book, does not equate with positive role modeling.

Recently I voted for a clean slate for our board to start again fresh – our credibility as a professional group is at stake here folks!!! In-fighting and publicizing it is an embarrassment. I am assuming our constitution is a process that has been agreed upon by the profession so this is what needs to be upheld or modified if it is not reflecting the values and practice that our board should be modeling.

I want to acknowledge that everyone’s view is valid – not necessarily right nor wrong but sometimes different; and the relational aspect is about coming to a place of respectful agreement regardless of ethnicity, gender, cultural, religious or other viewpoints. Bi-cultural values are embedded within SW practice – when these may not be evident there are more respectful ways of addressing this issue.

ANZASW has bigger fish to fry – what about getting politically vocal about the things that are going to impact on how we work with the people we are trying to provide a service to. Is that not the point of SW after all???

Well done. It is the responsibility of all Social Workers to oppose the TTP. It will undermine Maori Sovereignty, New Zealand Sovereignty, the ability of one parliament to bind a future parliament i.e. parliamentary sovereignty, and basic Human Rights as set out in the NZ Bill of Rights Act and the UN Charters on Human Rights.
The agreement was negotiated in secrecy.
It gives power to Transnational Corporations to challenge anything that they see as impinging on their interests in the NZ Polity. We need to remember the Multi-lateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) that was nearly adopted internationally. The MAI was stopped when the French government withdrew from the negotiations. Many local authorities adopted positions declaring there territorial areas as being MAI free zones. We need to now create new TPP free zones in Aotearoa New Zealand. The TPP ignores both the Spirituality of the peoples of the Earth. It commodifies people and puts them under the mantle of neo-liberal economics. The people are the subjects of economics not the objects. The wairua present in Papatuanuku cannot be abused and violated.

Thanks for your comments and apologies if our blog post is misleading or unclear in any way.
Yes a fee increase will create more funds. It will create funds to cover the ever increasing cost of base line services and to assist us as an association to be able to cover our bills.
As a board we grappled for some time about whether we should increase fees or instead drastically reduce services and functionality of the association in order to continue to function. Clearly we opted for a fee increase after members had indicated that they sought a stronger and more present voice in their association not a further diminished one.
However in increasing this fee we are ever mindful of the low pay rates and financial stress within our communities, for those in paid employment as well as those who are not. We are mindful of the challenges this may bring and have some further innovative ideas (which are no way near developed or fully thought through yet to announce as this time) to mitigate against fee payment hardship and to support those of our members who would find this $1 a week increase un-affordable.
As a board we felt it important that if fees increased, to cover essential costs, that we also consider new ways of doing some things and ensured that this extra $1 did not just ‘disappear’, but could be shown to being effectively used in creating changes.
We hope our strategic plan reflects to members a new vision forward and over time we will continue to roll out announcements demonstrating more of the changes we envisage to support our membership, voice and CPD.
Apologies again if our initial blog did not put this in a way which was clear enough.
Please keep your comments coming however,; the Association is all of us, and we value feedback, engagement and participation of all members as we re-imagine our association into the next 50 years.
Nga mihi nui
Karen

Kia ora and welcome to the ten strong collective! I celebrate the time, thinking and discussion you have all put into this as well as the collective nature and collaboration. An exciting move and while I will dearly miss the hard copy journals I look forward to what emerges from this move.

Congratulations to the new editorial collective. Going online seems a timely initiative that will help our local and wider social work community publish and learn. Kia kaha!

Ngaa mihi tino mahana ki a koorua. That both of you are co-leading ANZASW together is one of the brightest things that has happened to our profession. Kia ora!